For Bihar's beleaguered Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra, last fortnight must have seemed like welcome rain after a protracted period of political drought. After 14 months during which his administration has been under virtual siege following a series of embarrassing scandals and failures, he finally received a pat on the back from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Union Home Minister Giani Zail Singh for the speedy disposal and high rate of convictions in cases concerning atrocities on Harijans.

The gesture of appreciation came after the Patna Additional Sessions Judge, S.C. Mukherjee, sentenced 50 people on August 5 the largest collective conviction ever - to life imprisonment for the Pipra carnage that took place in February last year,

Apart from the unusually high number of convictions, what was remarkable was the fact that several powerful people in the village hierarchy were booked. Among them were mukhiyas, sarpanchs landlords and student leaders, who, normally, as modern-day rural czars, think nothing of using money and political links to buy freedom.

If the verdict was out of the ordinary, so was the crime which invited it. Fourteen people, including women and children, were gunned down or burnt alive in what was described as a premeditated attack by about 500 well-armed men with the intention to wipe out the entire village of Pipra.

Pipra after the attack:Total devastation

Nightmares: While the convictions have reawakened some kind of faith in the judicial process, they have also stirred nightmares of horrors in recent years in Bihar. On May 27, 1977, 11 Harijans were shot and tossed into a pyre in Belchi in broad daylight; on March 25, 1978, three Harijans were killed by an armed group of landlords in Bishrampur; three other Harijans were murdered in Kaila on December 9, 1978.

Mishra, who came to power in June last year, points out that although a charge-sheet was submitted in June 1977 in the Belchi case, no trial took place under the Janata regime. In February 1980 hearing began at the instance of Mrs Gandhi and a judgement was delivered in May last year: two of the accused got the death sentence and 15 the life term.

In the Bishrampur case, a charge-sheet was submitted in April 1978 but the trial began only in July 1980, and the verdict was delivered in April this year: 27 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment. In the Kaila killings a charge -sheet was submitted in February 1979 but prosecution was taken up 20 months later. Ultimately three got the life sentence and eight various jail terms.

Said Mishra proudly: "The promptness and effectiveness with which these cases have been handled has created an impression that the Government will not tolerate excesses on the weaker sections. That is why no major incident of this nature has occurred during Congress(I) rule."

Sceptics: Official figures support Mishra's claim though opposition leaders doubt their authenticity. During the first half of this year only 18 Harijans were killed as against 62 in 1977, 67 in 1978, 40 in 1979 and 36 in 1980. Former chief minister Karpoori Thakur, during whose rule Harijan killings reached a new high, alleges that not less than 70 such murders have taken place this year.

Mishra: Pat on the back

Apart from accusations by opposition leaders, serious doubts are being raised on the sincerity of the Mishra administration in pursuing court cases. The question being asked is: Why is the Government pushing for quick disposal only those cases in which members of a militant backward community are involved?

Equally outrageous attacks have also taken place during the same period in Parasbigha, Wajidpur Dharampura, Begusarai, and Pathadda in which upper caste landlords were involved, either directly or indirectly. Is it because the bureaucracy and the police are dominated by upper caste officials? The administration has yet to come up with an answer. One theory is that the administration has picked on the backwards since their loyalty to the Congress(I) is suspect.

Today, 18 months after Pipra hit the headlines, the village has sunk back into its state of anonymity and neglect. In the wake of the carnage Zail Singh and a host of Congress(I) bigwigs had descended on the village in a well-publicised attempt to console the survivors and to announce a number of measures for their rehabilitation. Zail Singh, recall villagers, had promised not only one acre of land per family, but jobs to all able-bodied Harijans. construction of an all-weather road from Punpun to Pipra, a shoe-making factory, a school and a hospital.

Meagre Compensation: But, this promise of turning Pipra into heaven itself is going to take longer than the residents have imagined. So far all they have got in return for these exciting promises is one bigha of land - about half an acre and that too is in far off areas and can sustain only one crop. Moreover, there are no supporting aids or implements. Says a villager, Mahendru: "We don't even have enough to eat as there is a shortage of jobs."

Rambilas: Unfulfilled promises

Rambilas Devidas, 60, alleges that even the compensation due to the victims' families has not been totally paid but has been pilfered by officials. He says that the Government announced a payment of Rs 5,000 per person killed, but Krishna, who lost nine members of his family, has received only Rs 19, 000 against the promised Rs 45,000. Devan and two family members were killed but his daughter has got only Rs 6,000 against the correct Rs 15,000.

And that is not all. Half-built houses and roofless huts stand like scars of another time. Said a villager: "The Government had promised that all the 27 houses which were burnt down would be constructed soon. But what we have so far is only brick walls. We spend our days under the trees and sleepless nights when it rains."

Tension: Apart from the economic measures which have yet to materialise, the very least that the aggrieved villagers can expect - a return to life without fear-seems as much of an impossibility as ever before. Says Manwati, a fragile 75-year-old woman who was the first to notice the raging fire on that fateful night: "I think I will live to witness another hell. I wish I could die before that happens." And she is not the only one to live with the fear of another attack on her mind. Adds Ramchandra, 55: "The landlords continue to threaten us with another carnage."

The history of the region has a lot to do with the tension that persists. Before Independence, land in areas neighbouring Pipra, which belonged to Harijans, was occupied by Muslim landlords who employed them as labourers. When the Muslims fled the country during Partition, the Harijans tried to get back their land but the Kurmis beat them to it and secured it either by force or bought it from the departing Muslim landlords at throwaway prices. The Harijans have continued to experience an intense feeling of injustice which Marxists and extremists have naturally exploited.

Houses under Construction : Little progress

Demand: The Harijans have continuously demanded that land should be recovered from the Kurmi landlords and be distributed. The Kurmis obviously resisted this step, and the result is violence, which has claimed lives on both sides. Today the entire Punpun and Masaurhi region is tense as cases of violence appear every now and then.

Even the landlords, with their superior fire-power, live with fear all the while. They have formed the Kisan Samraksha Sangh to protect their interests and it is reported that they managed to raise Rs 12 lakh from among their clan to pay for the defence of the accused in the Pipra case.

Though the state Government is going about slowly with the task of land redistribution, it has taken an impressive number of measures to assist Harijans, both financially as well as by way of protection. To expect violence against Harijans to vanish from the face of Bihar is asking for the impossible. But the prosecution in the Pipra case gives cause for hope, that the administration willing, things need not after all turn for the worse.

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